Pages

Friday, March 4, 2016

Perrydale Farm Dairy, Pennsylvania

Perrydell Farm Dairy is a family-run farm begun in 1923. They have 170 acres which they use to grow the food for their cows. Their main production is milk, which they bottle themselves. The farm has a self-guided tour sheet that let us go around at our own pace. It was perfect for the children.

Perrydale Farm Dairy Retail Store

The bottling plant is at the back of their store. They bottle in the morning and we caught the tail end of their work.

Chocolate milk!

We went outside to see the calves. Before we got to them we saw a fun sign.

Farm sign

Lots of familiar-looking cows

The calves are always around. They replenish their herd to get new milking cows. We saw a bunch of cute little critters in hutches. They stay in the hutches for three months and then move in with the heifers (cows who haven't given birth yet). They breed at about a year and a half old.

Little shelters for little critters

Petting a calf

More petting

Three more cuties

A new-born

Everyone with their coats on

The cows are milked two times a day in the milking parlor. We weren't there for milking but did see the building.

Milking parlor

Milk tanks

Cow anatomy

Pregnancy!

The milk cows have a big barn. We saw them having a mid-morning snack. The guide sheet explained that the cows are Holsteins. The brown cows don't give chocolate milk, they are just brown. The coloring and spots on a cow are unique to each cow, like fingerprints for people!

Cow barn

Fueling up

We went back to the retail store and followed the cow's example by buying a snack--fasnacht (read about this treat here) made by a local church the day before.

Holy fasnacht!

Perrydale Farm Dairy is a fun place to visit and is definitely worth a stop.

No comments:

Post a Comment